The Federal Government has said it was currently appealing to oil marketers on issues bordering on the cost of Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol, fuel queues, bridging claims payment, among others.
According to feelers coming from Abuja, the meeting might
lead to an upward adjustment in the pump price of petrol, as oil marketers had
repeatedly blamed the persistent fuel queues in various parts of Nigeria on the
unsustainable cost of PMS.
This is coming after the Major Oil Marketers Association of
Nigeria on Wednesday joined their counterparts in the Independent Petroleum
Marketers Association of Nigeria and the Natural Oil and Gas Suppliers
Association to call on the government to gradually raise the price of PMS.
Earlier, IPMAN and NOGASA had pushed for the upward review
of petrol price, as some members of IPMAN had already effected this by selling
above the N165/litre government approved price.
Currently, some of them already dispense petrol at N180/litre
and above in many states including Abuja, Lagos, Ogun, Imo, Niger, among
others.
Following the demands of the various marketers groups, the
General Manager, Corporate Communications Department, Nigerian Midstream and
Downstream Regulatory Authority, Kimchi Apollo, said that the government was
currently engaging the oil dealers, reports The Punch.
“We are meeting them now on the various concerns, so don’t
worry. By tomorrow you will know what is the outcome,” he stated.
Apollo added, “The NMDPRA is engaging them in a meeting that
is ongoing, so I’ll let you know the outcome. Hopefully, by tomorrow you will
know the outcome of the meeting.”
Asked if the meeting was being held with just MOMAN or all
oil marketers, the NMDPRA spokesperson replied, “We cannot engage only MOMAN,
we are engaging all of them. We are engaging them so don’t worry. You will know
the outcome later.”
The sole importer of petrol into Nigeria – the Nigerian
National Petroleum Company Limited, however, insisted that it was not a regulator
of oil prices and would not comment on whether the cost of petroleum products
would be raised on reduced soon.
“If you can call Shell and ask them for comments on
petroleum products’ prices, then you can call us (NNPC) and ask us for such
comments,” a senior official at the oil firm, who pleaded not to be named due
to lack of authorisation, stated.
The source added, “We don’t have any kind of regulatory
function in the sector, we are just operators now. It is the government that
manages that. And based on the Petroleum Industry Act, we are no longer an
appendage of government.
“The company is owned by Nigerians and the government is
holding it in trust, but we don’t have any governmental role in terms of
pricing, control or whatever. Although we are mandated to be the supplier of
energy security, we are not a regulatory body.
“So we don’t control the price, we don’t regulate price, we
have no control over any of those, as well as other similar issues.”
But the Secretary, Abuja-Suleja IPMAN, Mohammed Shuaibu,
whose unit covers Abuja, Kogi, Niger and parts of Nasarawa and Kaduna, stated
that though the association had informed the government about the issues in the
sector, he was unaware of the meeting by the NMDPRA.
He reiterated that the cost of petrol was unsustainable at
N165/litre, stressing that some filling stations in Abuja were currently
dispensing the product at N185/litre, as they now purchased the commodity above
N168/litre from depots.
Shuaibu also noted that the indebtedness of the government
to marketers with respect to bridging claims must be settled, otherwise the
strike by IPMAN members would hold soon.
“The cost of petrol at N165/litre is not sustainable.
Bridging claims need to be settled and these are issues that should be addressed
to avert the impending strike,” he stated.
These concerns came as the scarcity of petrol continued in
Abuja and neighbouring Nasarawa and Niger states on Wednesday, as some filling
stations shut their doors to customers, citing lack of products to dispense.
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